infernal machine - terrorists - assassination plot

Apparatus used by Orsini in his failed attempted to assassinate of the French Emperor Napoleon III in 1858.


That anyway was my temporary description when the photo was posted. And it turns out that it wasn't quite correct. The creator of the apparatus shown in the photo was a vengeful individual called Giuseppe Fieschi (1790-1836), the year was 1836 and his intended victim was the French King Louis-Philippe.

The apparatus comprised 24 gun barrels, designed to detonate simultaneously. When fired it killed 19 and wounded 42, the King receiving no more than a mild scratch on his brow.


Orsini

Felice Orsini (1819-1858) was a liberal plotting for the independence of Italy. At one time he was closely associated with Mazzini, but his radical republicanism led him to plot the assassination of the French Emperor.

Napoleon III, nephew of the great Napoleon Bonaparte, was [to be completed]



This "machine infernale" is on exhibition in the Museum of National Archives, Hotel de Soubise, Paris